"Would you like to sit by me?" Drew asked. He couldn't keep the hope out of his voice.

"Okay," Chiara agreed, and she couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice.

The flight from London to Milan was less than two hours long, surely it didn't matter where they sat? But no, Drew was beyond happy that Chiara was sitting next to him for the short flight across Europe to Mara and Luke's wedding.

"You know it's my first time on a plane?" she told Drew as she buckled up. "And my first time out of the UK, not counting Ireland?"

"Really? How marvelous. Then you must have the window seat," Drew declared.

"No, it's okay, we're already all buckled and everything, they're preparing for takeoff," Chiara protested.

"I absolutely insist." Drew was already unbuckled and rising from his seat, so Chiara had no choice but to do the same. The flight attendant saw them and rose disapprovingly from her seat to see what they were doing, but Drew waved her off, showing that they were just switching. Once they were seated, Chiara had to admit that it was more fun to have the window seat, to watch London tilting away from them in the late morning sun, to see the world famous landmarks becoming miniatures before her very eyes as they rose into the dark blue sky.

They hit some turbulence when they got out over the English Channel, and there was just one dip too many for Chiara. She quickly unbuckled her seat and began to rise to run for the bathroom, but a passing flight attendant told her in no uncertain terms that she had to keep her seat.

"Oh no," Chiara said in a small, distressed voice. She began to paw desperately through the seat pocket in front of her for the air sick bag, afraid she wouldn't find it quickly enough. She found it just in time, and turned away from Drew, embarrassed, as her breakfast came roiling back out of her and into the bag.

"CC--Chiara, are you okay, you poor thing?" Drew commiserated, leaning as close as he could to rub her back. She tried to make some kind of reassuring noises in between her retching and push him away, but he resolutely stayed where he was, and pushed the button for the flight attendant. Ellie, who was sitting across the aisle from him, looked on with concern.

"Oh dear," said the perky flight attendant, "Too bumpy for her? Would she like some seltzer water?"

And Chiara, who was finally finished, closed the bag and handed it to the attendant, saying, "What I would really have liked would have been to be sick in the toilets in private like a normal human person, but since I wasn't allowed to leave my seat, here you go." She smiled sweetly. "And yes, please, a little seltzer would be lovely."

Drew kept a straight face until the attendant left with the bag, then he laughed at Chiara's words. "Always with the piss and vinegar, aren't you?" he said admiringly. "And we're over land now, somewhere over France, I think, so turbulence shouldn't be a problem for the rest of the flight, all right?"

"Wonderful," Chiara replied with a wan smile as she popped a piece of gum in her mouth. "I'm so sorry about that, Drew," she said. "I don't know what happened. It just suddenly felt like a roller coaster."

"Please, don't apologize," Drew said, continuing to rub her back. "I've been sick on planes plenty of times. All better now?"

Chiara nodded, sipping her seltzer.

Drew took it from her after a few minutes, setting it down in the cup holder. He pulled her head down on his shoulder. "We still have over an hour left, why don't you just close your eyes for a bit, hm? We'll be there before you know it. They've planned a beautiful al fresco lunch for us, with some kind of walk to the village and lake or something, so we'll have plenty of fresh air and lovely things to look at, doesn't that sound nice?"

"Sounds marvelous," Chiara agreed, leaning on Drew and closing her eyes.

She had to admit that leaning on Drew, feeling his warm body next to hers, was wonderful, and very comforting.

And for Drew, having Chiara's softness next to him, knowing that she was relaxed and comfortable enough to lean against him and rest, being able to simply turn his head and smell her hair, was heaven, plain and simple. He raised the armrest between them so she could really rest, and then he, too, closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he felt something spread out over them, and he opened his eyes to see his mother floating a blanket with the airline logo down on them.

"Thanks, mum," he murmured.

She smiled and kissed first Chiara, then Drew on the top of the head and returned to her seat.

They stayed that way for the rest of the flight to Milan, and when the plane began its descent into the airport, he found that they were holding hands under the blanket, though he wasn't sure who had reached for whose hand first.

And he didn't really care.

He was glad that she slept until the plane landed, because it was a bumpy landing, and he was worried that she'd be sick again. Ned, who was sitting in front of them with Noah, was worried as well, and spent most of the landing turned around and watching Chiara from between his and Noah's seat. Gary and baby Sienna were sitting in front of Noah and Ned, and Sienna was as good as gold for her father, only crying a little bit, and even then stopping when he gave her a bottle.

"CC, we're here, we're here, darling," Drew said into her ear, giving her a gentle shake.

Chiara opened her eyes. "Seriously? I slept the whole way? I missed flying over the Swiss Alps? How stupid am I?" She sounded disgusted with herself.

"It's okay, it's okay," Drew consoled her. "If you're up for it, we'll hire a car and drive through them while we're here, I promise. We're staying right on Lake Como, it's really close to Switzerland, and practically in the Alps."

Chiara turned shining eyes to his. "Really? We can just do that?"

"We can just do that," Drew repeated, overjoyed at the look on her face. "We can do anything you want, as long as it's not during the actual ceremony, all right?"

Chiara nodded. "Thank you," she said with a smile, her dimple becoming impossibly deep. It made Drew feel like he'd hung the moon.

"How long from the airport to where we'll be staying? What's it called?" she asked as they collected their luggage.

"A little less than two hours, depending on traffic and how long it takes us to get out of the airport," Drew told her. "We're not on tour or anything, so no one's supposed to know we're coming, that should make the airport easier.

"I think it's called Villa Azzurra? Something like that," he added.

"The Azure Villa? How beautiful," Chiara said.

"I thought you didn't speak Italian," Drew said as they waited for their luggage.

"I don't," she laughed. "It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, does it?"

Because there were seven of them, including a baby in a car seat, they were taking two cars to get to the villa, and while they were recognized walking through the airport, no fans were waiting for them or anything, and they were able to get in the cars with no mishaps or major hold ups.

"Oh god, Drew, look at how gorgeous!" was all Chiara could say for most of the drive to the Lake Como region. Although she was more Italian than Drew or anyone else, they'd all been to Italy many times, and she was the only one for whom Italy was brand new.

Driving through Milan and its environs was beautiful enough, but as soon as they got out into the country, the views were simply breathtaking, there was no other word. There were numerous small lakes, shining in the early afternoon light, with dense, lush foliage growing right up to the water's edge, and beautiful old buildings in faded pinks, yellows and browns. Colorful flowers grew in window boxes, small explosions of color that drew the eye in ten different directions at once; Chiara didn't even know where to look first. She was glued to her window, riveted to the view.

"You couldn't possibly know this about me," Chiara confided to Drew in a low voice, "but Lake Como has always been on my bucket list, multiple times."

"Multiple times?" Drew repeated, leaning next to her and putting his chin on her shoulder to look out the window with her at the incredible vistas of the lake flashing by. It looked like the mountains and trees were cascading straight into the deep blue water, and the buildings were built right up to the lake's edge. "What does that mean?"

She enumerated with the fingers of her right hand.

"One, I've always wanted to just visit, like we're doing now, so yay. Two, I've always wanted to maybe honeymoon here." She blushed a little when she said these words. "And three, I always wanted to own a little cottage here or something, or maybe work for someone who owned a villa here, you know, take care of a property, like I do yours, tend the flowers and trees and everything? Just live in a little house on the edge of an estate and plant things and watch them grow."

"Wouldn't you rather live in the estate? Be the owner of the villa?" Drew asked, smoothing her hair back.

"Well, I suppose, that could be number four, then," Chiara acknowledged with a smile. "My pie in the sky, if I win the sweeps version of number three or something.

"Oh god, Drew, have you ever seen any place so beautiful?" Chiara's attention was taken by a village they were passing through. "And lucky Mara gets to get married here, wow. And I get to spend a whole week here, just wandering through these villages and walking along the lake, and seeing the bougainvillea and the roses and the flower baskets spilling out of the windows and thank you thank you, Drew!"

And she reached across and hugged him in the car, which made Ellie, who was with them, smile.

"And we haven't even seen the villa yet," she enthused.

"We get to stay right in the villa, right?" she continued. "Since you guys are part of the wedding party?"

"Yeah. Apparently its simply massive, and both their immediate families, plus everyone that's in the wedding will be staying in the villa, and it's one of those what do you call its, a historical site or whatever?" Drew offered. "I don't remember, but it's some important place so the facade can't be changed and that, you know? The grounds have to be maintained a certain way? Mara had to apply way in advance to have the wedding there, and pay a massive deposit and promise not to do damage to the place, so no going crazy, you."

"I'll try," Chiara responded, and Drew could see her little smile in the reflection of the car window. "I'm sharing a room with your mother, right?"

"Yeah, is that okay?"

Chiara nodded. "She doesn't mind?"

Drew shook his head. He had a feeling they were going to enjoy this wedding a great deal.